In 2019, veteran restaurant worker Nikeisah Newton started driving grain bowls and salads to strip clubs around the Portland area at 2 a.m., trying to feed under-served dancers and sex workers after shifts. She called her food delivery service Meals 4 Heels, taking orders primarily through Instagram direct messages. "I want to be realistic," she said at the time. "I don't need to be a household name, but I'd like to be a dressing room name."

In certain Portland circles, however, Newton has become a household name: The chef has made meals for fundraisers and events like Roux and Queer Soup Night, fed protesters fighting police brutality and racism in Portland, and feeds food-insecure and unhoused Portlanders through various mutual aid efforts. Now, Portlanders can find her food any given day at one standing location: Newton has opened a cafe in Southeast Portland, serving sweet potato glass noodles topped with pickled cucumbers and truffled tomatoes, lemon-pepper couscous with marinated artichokes, and black-eyed pea fritters... (Read more)